Jay and Seth versus the Apocalypse is a 2007 shortcomedy film written by Evan Goldberg and Jason Stone, and directed by Stone. The film, designed as a roughly one-and-a-half minute movie trailer for YouTube but conceived as a 9-minute short, stars actors Seth Rogen and Jay Baruchel. It was adapted into a feature film, This Is the End, and was finally released in full on its full-length counterpart's Blu-ray release.

Jay and Seth versus the Apocalypse follows the two friends and actors who have shut themselves in their apartment and argue over their predicament during some unspecified end-of-the-world event.[2][3][4]

Contents

Seth and Jay are holed-up in a cockroach infested, filthy apartment. Although not specified, something terrible is going on outside. After a series of various trivial arguments it's decided that the need for water is so great that one of them will have to go outside the heavily-barricaded house to fix the supply - a job which requires going onto the roof.

Jay reluctantly goes, after being reminded that Seth went last time and therefore it's his turn. While up on the roof and after quickly restoring the water supply, an anxious Seth hears a shot from the pistol Jay was carrying. A bathroom window is broken from the outside and Seth's anxiety increases. Seth's shouts to Jay are met with silence and blood begins to flow through the faucet. Seth sits trembling on the floor, back to the wall, clutching a table-leg with nails through the end, ready to defend himself against the threat of whatever is out there.

Immediately after wrapping production on Knocked Up, Stone and Goldberg worked to turn around the short's script in only three weeks.[citation needed] Principal photography lasted for two days in September 2006, with one day of pick-ups in January 2007.[citation needed] Rachel Robb Kondrath, who co-produced the short with Stone, was also the production designer, and the few visual effects were provided by The Orphanage under co-founder Scott Stewart. After the trailer they put up on YouTube in June 2007 got over 50,000 hits in the first two weeks, Stone and Goldberg began shopping the project around. Variety reports that several production companies vied for the rights for production.[5]

The clip on YouTube, which is the only publicly available footage from the film, bills itself as a trailer because when it was first posted, the filmmakers intended to publicly screen the short at festivals.[7] However, when the film was picked up by Mandate, the short was shelved from festival consideration. This frustrated many fans, who expected to see a feature closer to the 2007 release of the trailer online.[8] The trailer had over 200,000 views in its first 14 months.[citation needed]